Laura Kaplan Shanley

Censorship on YouTube

I try to be a positive person. It takes a lot to make me mad. But when a birth clip I posted was deleted by both YouTube and Google I got mad. Below is a letter I sent to YouTube today. I welcome comments from anyone that has had a similar experience.

To Whom It May Concern:

Many wonderful childbirth videos have been deleted by YouTube supposedly because they violate your obscenity policies. Homebirth and natural childbirth videos are specifically being targeted, yet many are far less graphic than hospital birth videos which show close up images of vaginas being cut by doctors (episiotomies) and other interventions. Perhaps when birth is presented as a medical event it is viewed as acceptable but when it is presented as a natural, loving act between a woman, her baby and her partner it is viewed as sexual and therefore obscene.

Please refer to our Terms of Use and the Community Guidelines for more information on what video material is not permitted on YouTube.

The YouTube Team---

YouTube has also deleted videos containing footage of mothers breastfeeding their babies. I understand that there are people that find natural birth and breastfeeding offensive and no doubt they will continue to flag these videos. I have no problem with these videos being flagged, as all one has to do is click a button stating they are over 18. But I see no reason to delete them entirely. Giving birth and breastfeeding a child are NOT obscene acts. YouTube should welcome these videos with open arms, as they are helping to break down society’s fears and misconceptions about these most natural and life-affirming activities.

Postscript: Aug. 29 - today my video suddenly reappeared! I ended up sending 3 letters to YouTube (including the one above), so perhaps they decided to reconsider their position on homebirths! Hopefully it will stay up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaAfakqHpo

Update: March 2009 - The video remained up until July of 2008 when YouTube deleted it once again (see my blog posting about it here). This time they sent me a message telling me that my account would be permanently disabled if I reposted the video again. This seemed quite harsh, considering I had never reposted the video, they had. In any case, they did not respond to my request to repost it.

Mailing List

Thank you!

MEET Laura Shanley

Since we did not live in poverty, did not choose to invite medical professionals to our births, and had worked with ourselves to eliminate fear and other potentially destructive emotions, we knew that unassisted childbirth was the safest way for us to give birth.

Unassisted Childbirth

In an unassisted childbirth no one acts as a midwife. Instead, the birthing woman herself determines the course of her labor. Partners or friends may participate to varying degrees, but no one instructs the woman as to how to give birth, when to push, what position to be in, etc.